Swiss voters will be asked to decide whether the country should accede to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, according to the government. On 23 December 2025, The Alliance for a Nuclear Weapons Ban submitted 135,000 signatures to the Federal Chancellery, enough to trigger a nationwide vote. The initiative is backed by […]
The Swiss link to the Wham Christmas song
How the music video for 80’s hit song “Last Christmas” by the group Wham came to be filmed in Saas-Fee in Switzerland is a story of chance. According to Blick, roughly a year before the video was shot, Beat Anthamatten, director of the Grand Hotel Walliserhof in Saas-Fee, met one of the crew filming a […]
Religion continues to fade in Switzerland
Each generation, it seems, is a little less religious than the one before. New figures from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) suggest that although parents remain the main conduit of religious affiliation, the transmission is weakening over time. Christmas services still draw respectable crowds. For much of the rest of the year, however, pews […]
Trump announces drug price deal with Novartis and Roche subsidiary
Donald Trump has announced a deal with several large pharmaceutical firms, including Switzerland’s Novartis and Genentech, a subsidiary of Roche, reported SRF. The agreement, unveiled at the White House, is intended to lower the prices of selected medicines in the United States and to allow drugmakers to sell them directly to consumers online. In exchange, […]
Swiss parliament finally accepts 2026 budget cuts to balance books
Switzerland’s federal parliament has approved a balanced budget for 2026 after weeks of negotiation, settling the last points of contention on Friday, reported Le Temps. The compromise leaves the public finances in the black, with a slim margin of manoeuvre of CHF 84.6m, and reflects a clear political priority: security. Both chambers of the Federal […]
Criminal network in France responsible for dozens of thefts in Switzerland dismantled
A cross-border criminal network responsible for dozens of thefts in Switzerland has been dismantled in neighbouring France, reported RTS. The investigation, led jointly by Swiss and French authorities with support from Europol, Eurojust and Fedpol, targeted an organised group involved in stealing luxury vehicles and burglarising gun shops across several Swiss cantons. The main criminal […]
Switzerland could feed its entire population without food imports
Swiss agriculture could, in theory, feed the entire population without imports. That is the counter-intuitive conclusion of a new study by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), the ETH Zurich and the consultancy O+L GmbH. The research, published in Swiss Agricultural Research, models a scenario in which domestic production alone would suffice. In terms […]
Trump sets deadline to conclude binding trade agreement with Switzerland
Donald Trump has set Switzerland a deadline to conclude a binding trade agreement, reported RTS. Washington wants a legally enforceable deal in place by March 31st 2026. Failing that, the United States says it may review and reconsider the tariffs imposed on Swiss exports. According to several Swiss newspapers, the Trump administration is keen to […]
Man threatened to attack Jews at the Eurovision in Basel
Security officials in Switzerland quietly intervened ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel in May 2025 after a young man threatened violence against Jews, reported SRF. The 25-year-old was preventively detained and later deported before the event, a case that has only now been made public. Eurovision was meant to be a celebration of […]
Switzerland plans to expand roadside noise radars
The Federal Council wants to roll out roadside displays that warn drivers when their vehicles exceed recommended noise levels, reported RTS. After adopting a report on the issue on Friday, the government said such devices could help curb excessive engine noise, which it described as an avoidable nuisance that harms quality of life and can […]
